by Jade Lee
"Yes?"
"Tell me about your husband. How did he propose? Did you know ahead of time that he would? Did you know that you would say yes?"
Debra flushed a very becoming shade of pink. "We were in his father's library, of all places. He was trying to show me his favorite play by Euripides. It was a lesser work, you know, but he is quite enamored of it. He'd been telling me about how brilliant it was and I had to tell him he was a fool."
To the side, Connie gasped. "You didn't! You told him to his face that he was an idiot?"
"I did," said Debra proudly. "And I told him why, too. Anyone who thinks Euripides is the best comic playwright in history hasn't studied William Congreve. Imagine thinking that something has to be written in Greek to be considered the best!"
Gwen laughed. That was Debra to a tee. Absolutely passionate when it came to literary studies. "What did he say?"
Debra dimpled. "He was so shocked, he dropped the book on the floor. And when I looked down, he was on one knee asking me to marry him. Said he'd been searching the world over for a pretty woman who challenged his mind and that I was the one."
"Oh, how absolutely perfect!" Gwen breathed.
"It was. And I knew right then that I loved him. He didn't frighten me, he liked that I could speak my mind, and he has the most adorable mustache I've ever seen." She bit her lip to hold back her giggles, but Gwen had no such restraint. And soon all three were laughing.
Connie recovered first with a heartfelt sigh. "That's so romantic."
And so perfect for Debra. As Gwen squeezed her friend's hands, she couldn't help but wonder if she would ever have a proposal like that? Not in a library. That would just seem silly to her. But a proposal from a man who understood exactly who she was and what she wanted. A man who had searched the world over for a woman like her. A man like Edward who was kind and steady and knew how to let her live how she wanted without bars. But who also told her when she was playing with fire and held back when she was pushing too far.
Would that man ever ask for her hand?
Not if he was leaving London in the morning.
Chapter 14
Gwen stared at her hands, trying to hide her pain from her friend. This was, after all, Debra's day. So she worked to be happy for Debra's sake. She smiled when she walked down the aisle ahead of her friend and did her best to lose herself in the beautiful ceremony and the way Sir Henry said his vows. Never before had she heard someone speak so clearly or definitely. And Debra answered in kind.
They were a love match, that much was obvious. Gwen was happy for them even as she steadfastly ignored the burning in her back as she felt Edward watching her.
She didn't go to him between ceremony and wedding breakfast. She was holding onto her good mood by the tiniest margin and speaking with him would likely push her the wrong direction. So she spent her time helping a giddily happy Debra. The wedding breakfast was at the home of Sir Henry's great aunt in a musty old mausoleum of a house. But the food was excellent and there was plenty of room.
The toasts were given, the bride tossed her bouquet at Connie who caught it with giggling delight, and Gwen was soon surrounded by her usual bevy of friends, most of them men vying for her attention. She knew where Edward was, of course. She'd been all too aware of him the entire morning. But he had remained apart as one after another of Sir Henry's cousins came to tell her how lovely she looked.
Then came the moment when she lost track of him. One of the cousins was being particularly charming, and she'd lost herself in his antics. Which was the very moment Edward surprised her by appearing at the edge of her circle while carrying a tray of champagne glasses.
It took her a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. Was he truly standing there at the edge like a servant? And when she looked into his eyes, she saw that same banked intensity that was always there. But the moment their gazes connected, it flared to life and the rest of the world faded away.
"Whatever are you doing?" She didn't think he could hear her given that he was standing so far away, but he lifted the tray slightly and smiled at her.
"I am prepared to drop these on anyone who stands in my way," he said.
She wanted to be angry with him, though her reasons weren't entirely clear in her own mind. But he looked so adorable holding the tray that her lips quirked on their own. She covered as quickly as she could, arching her brows in what she hoped was an expression of very mild interest.
"Is that your normal way of approaching women at parties?"
"Only with you." He lowered the tray slightly as his expression shifted into regret. "I discovered the missing pages this morning, but I will not apologize. I always make plans when something is important. It helps me to sort through all possibilities."
"And did it?"
"With you? Never. You have surprised me at every turn."
He had been slowly elbowing his way forward as they spoke. The tray helped enormously in this as no gentleman wished to get a dozen glasses of champagne dumped on his head. She was seated a bit away from a table, so he had room to come directly at her. But since she was seated and he was so very tall, all she could see of him was the bottom of the tray.
"I've had all the champagne I need for the moment," she said by way of dismissal. It was another automatic response because her heart was beating so fast. She had no idea what he wanted and she had no wish to descend into tears. It would be too humiliating. "Really, Sir Edward, I believe there are servants for that sort of thing."
"Yes, there are," he said, as he elbowed the last of her admirers away. Then he continued the motion by passing the tray over to the very same young man. "Be a good gent and find a footman for this please?"
The man looked like he would object, but Connie rose from her seat beside Gwen. "Don't bother objecting. He's quite determined. I've seen that expression before. Here, I'll help you." And then she lifted the tray—and the gentleman's arm—and began walking away. But not before giving her brother a warm smile.
Gwen was just thinking about that smile and wondering what it meant when Robert came to stand behind her.
"Is there something amiss?" he asked. He rested his hand lightly on her shoulder, and she smiled, feeling in accord with her brother for the first time in ages. He was here beside her, supporting her if she needed it. That was a wonderful thing. Plus it gave her the strength to face whatever it was that Edward wanted to say.
"Everything's fine," she murmured, her attention completely focused on Edward as he gave her brother a nod. It was a simple gesture of respect, the kind exchanged between men who knew something she did not. "But I'm beginning to feel a little closed in," she said, as she started to rise to her feet.
"I first saw you at the Edgemont ball," said Edward before she could do more than shift her feet. "You wore a gown of shimmering blue, like a waterfall, and I couldn't stop watching you. You were laughing and dancing. And you were so alive."
She frowned, her mind spinning back. "But that was the first ball of the Season. We didn't meet for weeks."
He lifted his hands in a useless gesture. "I was a country baronet with a bad haircut and a worse tailor. You never saw me."
The idea was preposterous. She was always so aware of him, where he stood, what he looked like. She remembered the very day he got his hair cut from the barber her brother recommended. It was after he'd returned from taking his family home. Now his curls fell artfully across his brows rather than seeming to fight for space on his head. And she knew the day she'd mentioned a tailor to Debra to pass on to him. In fact, he was wearing a suit made by that excellent man right now. She remembered these things because she'd been extraordinarily conscious of his every action. So the idea that she'd missed him for weeks of the Season seemed ridiculous.
"I always see you," she said firmly and with quite a bit of irritation.
"Not at first," he said.
"He's right," said Debra as she came to the side. "He asked me your name, and we watched as you went into d
inner on Lord Benson's arm. He managed an introduction to you the very next night."
Gwen shook her head. "I am not so much of a ninny as to forget—"
"I believe you were distracted that night," Edwards said gently. "Your mother was playing chaperone and you kept looking at her."
"Oh. That night." Yes, she'd spent the entire evening wondering if the social whirl was too much for her mother. By the end of the evening, she was the one who had decided to go home. The anxiety had given her a raging headache.
While she was thinking, Edward sunk down to one knee before her. The movement was both so smooth and so startling that she could only stare while her pulse leapt in her throat.
"I spent the next weeks watching you, amazed by you. You dazzled everyone, not just me. I had to know you. And so I hatched a plan."
"The lemonade," she whispered.
"That was only the beginning. There were many more schemes after that to keep your attention."
She nodded. She had seen some of them.
"But they all added up to one thing." He pulled a ring from his pocket and held it out before him. It was a modest ring of his family's crest, made for a woman's hand. "My family is not so exalted as yours. In truth, nothing about me is nearly as wonderful as you. But I love you, and I have from the very beginning. I will do anything, hatch any plan, manage any stratagem if it means you will be mine. Please, Lady Gwendolyn, will you do me the greatest honor and be my wife?"
She gasped as she looked not at the ring but at the pure honesty in his eyes. How had he known that she would want a proposal in front of her family? How had he known that she needed to hear the why of all his elaborate plans? And how had he come to be the most perfect man right here before her with his heart in his eyes and a ring held up to her?
She didn't know how this was possible, and yet here he was.
"How could I not have seen you from that very first day?" she whispered.
"Because you shine so bright, all the rest of us pale."
She shook her head, her eyes blurring with tears. "If I shine, it is because I am standing with you. Because I love you."
His eyes widened and he jerked slightly forward, but caught himself. "So, is that... yes?"
She laughed. "Yes, I will marry you." She was already stripping off her glove so that he could slip the most wonderful ring in the world onto her finger.
"If you want a different ring," he began, but she cut him off.
"It's perfect. You are perfect."
He kissed her. It wasn't the thing to do in public. Certainly not with the passion that she felt simmering right beneath the surface. And certainly not the way she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he lifted her out of her seat.
But they were in love and she had never done things exactly the way they ought to be done. Fortunately he had more sense than she. He was pulling away even as he steadied her until she found her feet. Around them, everyone was clapping, even her admirers as they turned their attention to the other young ladies. Her brother was there to kiss her cheek and gravely shake Edward's hand. And Debra with Sir Henry were the very next to congratulate her.
"This is the best day of my life," whispered Debra as she gave Gwen a hug.
Gwen was thinking the exact same thing as Connie pushed her way forward.
"Could you get married in town? At the beginning of next season? We could rent rooms early and get gowns and do all the preparations together. And then I will be out and you will be married and it will be the most perfect Season ever!"
Gwen looked at Edward who shrugged. "I don't care about the details so long as it is soon and you do not change your mind."
She wouldn't. She couldn't. She loved him too much. "That sounds like a perfect plan. A wedding to mark the beginning of the Season." She glanced at Connie. "We shall plan your coming out then, and you..." She turned a fierce eye on her brother. "You will be at home with me until I say 'I do.'"
Robert groaned, but it was a weak protest. "I shall do whatever is required so long as at the end of the event, you are someone else's responsibility." He gave Edward a narrowed look. "Are you sure you want her?"
Edward grinned. "I have been scheming every moment of the last six weeks for that very thing." As he spoke, he handed Gwen another page of notes.
She looked down, scanning it with surprise. "You intended to abduct me to Scotland?"
"My dear, I would go to the ends of the Earth for you."
"No need," she said as she looked up into his dark and hungry eyes. "I am right here. I love you."
"And I love you."
Their kiss was going on much too long when her brother finally tapped her on the shoulder. "This is all very well and happy, Gwen, but try not to lose your head. We are in public, you know."
Gwen laughed though her cheeks were heating in embarrassment. "But isn't that the point of being in love?" she asked. "Losing one's head?"
Robert gave an exaggerated shudder. "Only for women," he said dryly.
Edward just shook his head, clearly refusing to argue with his future brother-in-law. And in that moment, she realized that Robert really did believe what he said. He thought love should be managed neatly and in a proper, very earl-like manner.
"I am very much looking forward to the woman who makes you absolutely insane," she said.
He gaped at her in horror. "That will never happen. Mark my words, sister dear. When I chose my wife, it will be a calm, rational courtship to a very proper woman."
Gwen started to laugh. Indeed, the laughter bubbled out of her like a fountain overflowing. She was that happy. "Care to make a wager on it, brother dear? I bet that you shall fall head over heels in love with someone who drives you more mad than I."
Her brother actually shuddered. "Why would you wish such a harpy on me? I swear, Gwen, you are the most madness I can handle."
She shook her head. "I shall be someone else's problem, as you so elegantly put it. And you, brother dear, would be bored to tears with a proper, rational courtship."
He snorted. "I accept your wager, Gwen. And it shall be the easiest bet I have ever won."
The End
Never fear, Robert loses his bet in the next
BRIDAL FAVOR'S novel,
Wedded in Scandal
Page forward for an excerpt
Excerpt from
Wedded in Scandal
by
Jade Lee
Robert already had the bottle of brandy in hand when there was yet another knock on the library door. It was barely three in the afternoon, but after a morning such as today, brandy was the only choice to combat the headache growing behind his right eye.
"My lord?" asked Dribbs as he pushed open the library door unbidden.
"No, Dribbs," Robert said quite firmly.
"Well, yes, my lord. There is a visitor."
"No, Dribbs, there is not."
"But she is most insistent."
"No, Dribbs, she is not. Because there is not a visitor to see me." To further make the point, he dispensed with the swirling and airing of the alcohol and took a healthy swig straight from the bottle. It was almost gone anyway.
"Well, yes, my lord, there is."
"No, Dribbs, there cannot be. My father has already been here today, so he cannot have purchased another mine or an interest in a gold venture in Antarctica or discovered the secret to stuffing genies into bottles to grant his every whim."
"No, sir, it is not the earl."
Robert exhaled in relief. "Thank God—"
"It is a woman."
"No, Dribbs, it most certainly cannot be a woman. Because, you see, I have already spoken with Gwen about her upcoming nuptials just this morning. My mother is in bed where she always is at this hour. And as for all those future in-law women who have let the house next door, I have just this moment escaped from the upstairs salon where the baroness and her sister were rearranging Mama's figurines. They were arguing about whether sunlight was bad for a porcelain shepherdess.
Porcelain, Dribbs. Why would anyone ever be concerned about a porcelain complexion? Especially since the damned thing has a bonnet!"
Robert forced himself to take another swig of brandy. When had his life become so dashed ridiculous?
"Very true, my lord. Most odd. But the woman who wishes to see you is not destined to be your relation."
"Thank heaven." He dropped down behind his desk, pushed aside the mountain of papers to set the bottle down, then looked up in confusion when Dribbs had still not disappeared. "You can go now."
"Well, no, sir, I cannot."
"Of course you can. Just step backward and shut the door."
"Well, yes, I could do that, my lord, but if I were to do such a thing, you would damn me for it in a day's time. Perhaps even sooner."
"Perhaps. But at least you wouldn't be damned right now."
"Excellent point, my lord. But you see, the lady in question is a Mrs. Mortimer. And she has a trifling matter for you to deal with."
Robert snorted. In his opinion, all female matters were trifling. But that didn't stop them from plaguing him with their nonsense day and night. Still, something about the name tickled the back of his brain. He knew that name, but from where?
"She is the dressmaker for your sister's wedding," supplied the butler.
Ah! There it was! Gwen had been waxing eloquent on the lady's dressmaking skill just this morning. The woman had done this and that, tucked something in or let something out. And then Gwen had blushed a deep pink. That was what stuck in Robert's mind: that his sister had blushed a deep, embarrassed pink. Because the dress made her look more attractive. In a sexual kind of way. And dashed if that was something he absolutely did not want to know about his sister.
He took another swig from the brandy bottle, only to discover that it was empty.
"I shall find you another bottle directly, my lord."
"Good man."
"But first you must speak with Mrs. Mortimer."